Germany must stop giving budgetary lessons to the EU, according to a future minister

Ⓒ AFP – John MacDougall – | The Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, Mayor of Hamburg and future Finance Minister of Germany, arrives at a meeting for the formation of a coalition government on January 26, 2018 in Berlin

Germany must stop giving budgetary lessons to other European countries, assures the future German Minister of Finance in an interview published this Saturday.

The Social Democrat Olaf Scholz (SPD), who will be the finance minister in the new government of Angela Merkel, believes that Germany „should not dictate to other European states how they should develop,“ he explains to Der Spiegel.

„No doubt mistakes have been made in the past,“ he adds, in a clear allusion to the very strict position of his predecessor in office, the conservative Wolfgang Schauble, guardian of budgetary orthodoxy in his country and in Europe.

The Finance Ministry has been for eight years ‚property‘ of the Christian Democratic Party (CDU) of Merkel, which had to cede this key ministry to the Social Democrats to reach a coalition agreement with them and stay in power.

That decision has been criticized within the chancellor’s party, where it is feared that a Ministry of Finance in the hands of the SPD will relax control over the debt.

Germany must stop giving budgetary lessons to the EU, according to a future minister was last modified: Februar 10th, 2018 by Live